Dad, Where Are We Going? Analyzing the Popular Chinese Reality TV Show from a Communication Perspective

摘要

This study is a systematic examination of a popular Chinese reality TV show called Dad, Where Are We Going as an incidental entertainment-education communication program on parenting and fatherhood in China. The entertainment program featured the interactions between five celebrity fathers and their young children in a variety of challenging activities far away from home. Its audience response was captured in comments posted on social media. This study is a quantitative content analysis, including two parts: (1) using 10 communication dimensions (five nonverbal and five verbal) for decoding different parenting styles reflected in the program, and (2) evaluating the scale, valence, and insights from viewer comments online. Findings about the media portrayal and audience response to authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and negligent parenting styles as well as their implications for the one-child policy generations and fatherhood in the contemporary Chinese society are discussed.